Isn't that the way you normally make a reservation for a two-night stay?

Can you imagine that conversation..

What do you mean there won't be room service!?!?

(sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a Fletch quote-a-thon)

It'll be interesting to see what "48 hours" really means in Arizona ...

The man who was acquitted of shooting a guy in the head and cutting up the body is now facing an additional charge: tampering with physical evidence. And the bond for that new charge? One Billion Dollars.

Here is a woman who is following in the footsteps of the Durst defense: Yeah, I stabbed him over 100 times, but it was in self defense (still working on why I buried him in the backyard and repainted the crime scene).

Having beat the rap, the ride for Durst continues: read the article.

In keeping with the Durst style of raising a crazy defense, Susan Wright has taken the stand and explained how she stabbed her husband so many times and dumped his body in the backyard. This all seems so much like every television law and order show, where the outrageous is made to appear rational through lighting, camera angle and sheer drama. Read the story.

Do you believe her?

Although Susan admits being capable of irrational thought, I believe her every word. It is extremely important to have a clean house for your abusive husband when he returns home from the grave (not to mention if the police show up to determine what might have happened). I feel certain she could pass a polygraph.

The first thing I thought was: I'm sure there are copious medical records to verify her various injuries. If she decided not to seek medical attention, I'm certain her employment records will show that she toughed it out and stayed home for a few weeks.

Strippers can't work with bruises all over their body, can they?

The newspaper reports the prosecutor's cross-examination.

A Harris County jury didn't believe the defendant only stabbed her husband many times and buried him in the backyard out of self-defense. Read the story.

OK, you are charged with vehicular manslaughter and the other person in the car is found thrown from the car with his pants down around his ankles. What is your defense?

No probation for the woman who stabbed and buried her husband in Harris County: 25 years in prison.

Law and Order had a plot based on the Durst trial last night. Of course, the good guys won because of a plot twist.

(Yup, I watch the show pretty regularly. Bet that makes me lose credibility with you seasoned types.)

Neurologist found innocent
Doctor had been accused of unprofessional conduct

By Claire Osborn


AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Saturday, March 6, 2004


An Austin neurologist accused of improperly brushing against a patient during an exam was found innocent Friday by a Travis County jury.

Philip Leonard, 52, was charged with unprofessional conduct, a Class A misdemeanor.

"We think the jury did the right thing," Leonard's lawyer, Chris Gunter, said after the verdict.

The incident was alleged to have happened Aug. 13, 2001. Leonard was accused of brushing against a female patient four times with his groin.

Leonard was giving the woman shots for back pain with needles that medical experts said were too short to give her any relief, prosecutor Gilbert Barrera said.

"Philip Leonard is the worst the medical community has to offer," Barrera said during closing arguments in County Court-at-Law Judge Elizabeth Earle's courtroom.

There are 26 other cases in which five patients allege that Leonard also molested them during exams, Barrera said during a jury break.

During his closing argument, Gunter said that what the woman felt during the exam was the doctor's cell phone, which he kept in his pocket. The woman was mentally unstable and often exaggerated her symptoms, Gunter said.

"She has a history of lying, and that's sad," he said.

He also said the woman was accusing Leonard just to make money. She has filed a civil lawsuit against Leonard.

As an example of the endless creativity of attorneys in creating a defense, Durst now says the State's evidence that he cut up a body can't be used to prove tampering with evidence because the statute of limitations for the misdemeanor of abuse of a corpose has expired. Read the story.

I'm at a loss to explain how incredibly lame that argument is.

We filed a brief in the court of appeals today that responded to a DNA test request. It perhaps takes the list of crazy defenses to a new level.

Defendant was convicted of murder. She shot her landlord at point blank range in the heart while he sat at his kitchen table reading the paper. She says he was an international terrorist, working with then Pres. Clinton, seeking to assasinate her (she says she was working for the CIA).

As you might have guessed, the insanity defense was raised but rejected by the jury.

Now, many years later, from her prison cell, the defendant has discovered the DNA testing law. She now wants a DNA test conducted on the victim. She claims that the test will finally show that her landlord was not who he claimed to be. He, in fact, was the international terrorist known as The Jackal, thus proving her conspiracy theory.

OK, folks. Under our laws, she got to file the motion and a free lawyer, if she wanted it. The motion was denied, and now we have to justify that denial to a panel of three judges. Ain't America great?

Like all defendants, she exaggerates. I have it on good authority that the deceased was actually working for one of Clinton's interns!

I presented a case yesterday to Grand Jury where a young girl reported that her neighbor had forced her to play with his privates. His Story: His cat was in his lap when it started clawing him. He stood up and it was the cat's clinging that caused his pants to drop down (incl. his underwear). The cat then jumped off and he yelled "Grab it" (meaning the cat). The young girl must have misunderstood because she then grabbed his privates.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the Smith County trial of a woman who stoned her children to death will have an agreed insanity defense.

Has anyone done this before in a jury trial?